British human rights lawyer Gordon Bennett, a Bushman spokesperson and a Survival International campaigner will host a press conference in Johannesburg to expose the persecution of tribal peoples in the name of “conservation.”

British Barrister Gordon Bennett will argue that wildlife law enforcement almost always harms tribal communities because the wrong laws are being enforced by the wrong people against the wrong people – with examples from Botswana, Cameroon and India.

Tribal peoples like the Baka in southeast Cameroon have faced arrest and beatings, torture and death in the name of 'conservation.'

In India, tribal peoples are being forcibly and illegally evicted from tiger reserves, while tourists are welcomed in. Tribal peoples in Botswana and Cameroon are accused of “poaching” because they hunt their food. They face arrest and beatings, torture and death, while fee-paying big game hunters are encouraged.

Tribal people and Survival International are calling on the United for Wildlife conference in Botswana to issue a statement on tribal subsistence hunting: “Tribal peoples shouldn’t be criminalized for hunting to feed their families.”